GALWAY, Ireland – On a busy Saturday on Shop Street, activist Cormac Corcoran hands out pamphlets to passersby. “Lisbon will hurt you” the front of the pamphlet reads in all capital letters. Corcoran’s not warning about an invasion of Ireland by the Portuguese; the issue is the European Union’s Treaty of Lisbon, a semi-constitutional document that will yield more power to the EU government in Brussels. This naturally means diminished sovereignty for EU member states like Ireland, a fact that concerns many Irish citizens.

On October 2, Ireland will vote on the question of ratifying Lisbon. Interestingly, this is the second time the Irish have voted on the treaty in the last 16 months. In 2008, both the Dáil and the Senead passed legislation approving the treaty, but Ireland became the only EU member to make the final decision a referendum. That June, the Irish people voted “no” by a six-point margin, making it the first country to reject Lisbon and sending the EU into a bit of chaos.

The rest of the EU is heavily invested in Ireland’s decision. Per EU law, every member nation must ratify Lisbon before it goes into effect. As Declan Ganley, the leading force behind the original “no” vote movement in Ireland, said, this small island nation of only 4 million people “(made) a decision for almost half a billion citizens” across Europe.

“Would Obama agree to face reelection now?” Corcoran says. “It’s undemocratic…it’s ridiculous.” In his view, the Irish people have already spoken, but the government did not like what they had to say.

Ganley, in a speech at the Heritage Foundation shortly after the first Lisbon referendum, called the “European project” has been “the most successful peace process in the history of the world.” He cited these successes as the reason for his voting “yes” on every Europe referendum before Lisbon. “I believe in the European project,” he said.

But Lisbon, Ganley believes, is anti-European, calling it “something that is against the citizens that it purports to speak for.” Rather than fostering a government representative of the people, Lisbon would grow the unelected bureaucracy for the EU. In his speech at Heritage, Ganley points out that the EU government already dictates hundreds of laws every year to member states while those countries’ own governments apply the rubber stamp.

“The democratic legitimacy of parliaments in exercising their duty is being eviscerated by a Brussels that is not democratically accountable,” he said. “As a moderate and as someone who believes in democracy, that is unacceptable to me.”

In this spirit of shirking democracy, the Irish government, which officially supports the treaty, is holding a second referendum. Corcoran, who tells me he once worked for Ganley, thinks this is an unconscionable breach of democratic principles. “Would Obama agree to face reelection now?” he says. “It’s undemocratic…it’s ridiculous.” In his view, the Irish people have already spoken, but the government did not like what they had to say.

Cóir warns that the EU could force Ireland to raise its low corporate tax rate, a policy measure that created the aforementioned boom and pulled the country out of relative poverty.

The political scene in Ireland is much different this time. Ireland’s economy, which had been booming since the mid-1990s, has practically bottomed out after a property bubble in late 2008 worse than that in the United States. This development certainly changes the dynamic, as both sides of the Lisbon are trying to appeal to Ireland’s economic concerns. The well-organized and well-funded “yes” side makes claims that Ireland “needs Europe.” Mass-produced signs line the streets in cities like Dublin and Galway informing voters to “vote yes” because “we belong” to Europe. The implication is that in tough economic times, Ireland needs the security of a European federation, with all its regulations and protections, Lisbon would foster.

The “no” argument, on the other hand, claims “Lisbon is the last thing our battered economy needs,” according to the pamphlet Corcoran is passing out. The pamphlet, produced by anti-Lisbon group Cóir, says the treaty’s result in Ireland will be “less jobs, less control, more taxes.” Most compellingly, Cóir warns that the EU could force Ireland to raise its low corporate tax rate, a policy measure that created the aforementioned boom and pulled the country out of relative poverty. The flood have multinational corporations into Ireland because of its low taxes has hurt its European neighbors. With its increased power outlined in Lisbon, the EU government in Brussels will likely “level the playing field” for other member nations by implementing corporate tax floors.

But opposition to Lisbon in Ireland isn’t all about national sovereignty and free markets. Wage protection, immigration control, and maintaining high levels of public spending may not be policy goals of a classical liberal, but they are among the motivations for the Irish to vote against Lisbon. Just a couple blocks up Shop Street from the Cóir volunteers, there were even pro-Palestinian activists demanding “no” on Lisbon on the basis that the EU “facilitates Israeli genocide” against Palestinians.

These varied sources of opposition to Lisbon reflect the political reality about the treaty. Irish citizens from many different viewpoints have created a loose confederation with one political goal: to maintain Irish sovereignty on their most important issues. The facts are generally on their side, which is why signs asking voters to support Lisbon can only resort to platitudes about Ireland having a voice in Europe.

But here in the “red state” region of Ireland (that is, outside of the Dublin urban area), citizens may not be so concerned about their government elites having a voice among the rest of the elites in Brussels. They’d rather have their individual voices heard by their elected officials. It remains to be seen if the Irish will again tell their government what it apparently didn’t hear the first time around.

Michael Warren is a senior at Vanderbilt University, studying abroad in Galway, Ireland. He blogs about his experiences abroad at Vandy Right. He can be reached at michael.r.warren@vanderbilt.edu